Posts Tagged ‘Auris HSD Full Hybrid Concept’

In a world premier, Toyota is unveiling the Auris HSD Full Hybrid Concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

The Japanese maker says it’s a mainstream model that is the first step in deploying Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) across the company’s entire model range. The Aurus shares the same platform as the popular compact Corolla model on sale elsewhere, and uses older nickel metal hydride batteries, as Toyota is still leery of lithium ion technology.

Toyota claims exceptional fuel efficiency and low CO2 emissions for the concept, as do all the other numerous automakers who are looking to comply with pending EU CO2 regulations that require drastic cuts in emissions but give extraordinary credits to electric cars.

Full Hybrid appears to be the latest buzzword for a hybrid that can run on electric power alone for a testing cycle and generate credits for conventional vehicles since proposed tests would say this is zero emissions.

No CO2?

The fallacy here is that it doesn’t take into account how the electricity is generated. In the U.S. for example half of the country’s electric power is generated by burning coal, which generates enormous amounts of pollutants including CO2.